Skunk!

Well, any illusions we might have here in Norwalk that we are in a city are shattered when we face the wildlife that lives here. We may be a city, but possums, hawks and other wildlife have adapted to living side by side with us.

We regularly have possum in the yard. Someone hangs out under the ground-level deck. And this morning, just as dawn began, between that time of total darkness and first light, I stood at the upstairs back window and watched a short legged, striped animal waddle down the back yard toward the back fence between the yard and the church. I thought, "Now what shuffles like that. A badger? We don't have badgers around here. OMG. A skunk!"

A skunk it was. And as it reached the end of the yard it turned right and snugged under the blue tarp that covers some yard equipment that won't fit in the church's garage and, knowing that even a skunk probably can't squeeze between the holes in a chain link fence, I have no idea where it is now. But I'm not looking under that tarp!

But Miss Xena, Warrior Labrador Mix Breed Princess of All Norwalk, has no such qualms. She knows things hide under that tarp and she checks it out all the time. One of these days...

You gotta love city life in these days when we humans think we are subduing the planet only to find that lots of the creatures of the planet are more adaptive than we ever imagined. This is one hubris-driven battle I hope humankind loses. I don't want to be sprayed by a skunk in my own back yard, and at the same time, I was and still am totally delighted to watch that striped furry waddle in my own back yard. Thanks, God.